Refund Anticipation Loans - Press

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By Cyril Josh Barker
February 9, 2012
As tax season begins in the nation, tax companies are once again targeting low-income filers with the so-called "convenience" of refund anticipation loans (RALs). However, city officials advise taking a look at some other options before taking the loan that...

By Rep. André Carson
January 8, 2012
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama stood before an excited crowd in Shaker Heights, Ohio to boldly announce his appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
This...

By Curtis Black
May 5, 2010
Under pressure from consumer groups and increased regulatory scrutiny, JPMorgan Chase has announced it will no longer offer income tax refund anticipation loans, known as RALs.
Woodstock Institute president Dory Rand issued a statement commending Chase “for (finally)...

By Martha WhiteMarch 31, 2010
Despite years of efforts to rein in the practice, lightly regulated tax preparers will be permitted to continue peddling high-cost refund anticipation loans once again this tax season to the most vulnerable filers, as tougher rules to curb the practice languish in...

By Kevin Drum
March 31, 2010
Over at the Washington Independent, Martha White has a good piece about tax preparers who prey on low-income filers by hard selling refund anticipation loans, which typically boast effective interest rates of anywhere from 50% to 1000%. The whole thing is worth reading...

By Mark LawtonMarch 29, 2010
Many residents in Franklin Park and Northlake are getting their tax refunds back a little early but at a much higher cost.
Those residents use refund anticipation loans, essentially a loan against a person's tax refund.
The loans are available to anyone but tend to be...

By Karen HarrisMarch 3, 2010
What are RALs?
The dreaded tax season is back and so are notorious refund anticipation loans (RALs). RALs are short-term, high-interest-rate bank loans sold through tax preparation sites like H&R Block and Liberty Tax. The problem with RALs, in part, is how they are...

By Curtis BlackMarch 2, 2010
With tax season underway, there’s lots going on with tax refund anticipation loans (RALs), including stepped up regulation and expanded support for free volunteer tax assistance programs which offer alternatives.
Consumer advocates continue to press for the elimination...

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In this first part of our Theory of Change series of blog posts and images, Woodstock President Dory Rand explains the ways in which Woodstock Institute is working to achieve our mission of creating a just financial system in which lower-wealth people and communities, and people and communities of color, can achieve economic security and community prosperity. In this series, our research and policy staff will discuss the strategies we use to effect positive, lasting financial systems change.

Refund anticipation loans (RALs), which allow borrowers to receive their expected tax refunds in one to three days, cost Illinoisans more than $114 million in 2006, according to a new report. Tax filers in African-American communities were 3.5 times &nbsp;more likely to use RALs than were tax filers in other communities. Over 23 percent of tax filers in African-American communities used RALs to access their refund early, while only 6.8 percent of all tax filers statewide used RALs.